Understanding SHANTI Act, 2025 – Analysis For Patent Applicants

With the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025¹ (‘SHANTI Act’), having received the assent of the President of India on 20 December 2025, India has, to some extent, opened the gates to patenting of innovation in the nuclear energy sector. The SHANTI Act, Gazette notified on 21 December 2025, repeals the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 (‘AEA’). This change in nuclear energy governance framework supports India’s long-term objective of achieving nuclear energy capacity of 100 gigawatt by 2047, which now stands at 8.78 gigawatts².

Given that patent protection drives innovation, economic growth, and technological advancement in any given sector, the SHANTI Act- by allowing, albeit conditionally, patenting of inventions pertaining to nuclear energy and radiation, comes as an encouragement to innovators and investors in the nuclear energy sector.